Jordan Mason let the cat out of the bag on national television, revealing to a reporter soon after the San Francisco 49ers‘ 32-19 win over the visiting New York Jets that he was told last Friday that Christian McCaffrey would not play Monday night.
McCaffrey was questionable going into the season opener with a calf strain but had told reporters as late as Friday that he planned to play, bringing into question if head coach Kyle Shanahan followed the league’s injury protocol.
But this isn’t a story about the NFL’s storied history of coaches manipulating the injury report. It’s about how one of the frontrunners for the Super Bowl has such a stacked roster that it doesn’t even need its best player to dispose of another title contender. That’s not great news for the rest of the NFL.
With McCaffrey inactive, San Francisco had 30% of the team’s offense from 2023 on the sideline. But it didn’t matter as Mason, undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2022, proved more than ready for a workhorse running back role.
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Mason actually was third on the team’s depth chart to start training camp, but second-stringer Elijah Mitchell was placed on the season-ending injury list with a hamstring injury during final roster cuts in August.
With the 49ers chasing an elusive sixth Lombardi trophy, players like Mason stepping up when foundational players can’t go will be important for San Francisco’s marathon drive to the title game.
“Not having Christian is huge, but we have a team that really commits to running the ball,” Shanahan said. “We have 10 guys out there who block for whoever the running back is. And we have some running backs and some receivers who know how to lower their pads and run the ball, too.”
Mason earned his first start in three seasons and made the most of it. He finished with a career-high 147 rushing yards on 28 carries, including a 5-yard run for a score. Mason also had a 17-yard touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty on Deebo Samuel.
The last time Mason had that many carries or rushing yards in a single game was in 2016 during his senior year at Gallatin High School just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.
Tight end George Kittle, who finished with four catches for 40 yards, said the 49ers got back to basics with McCaffrey, who has a unique ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, not in the lineup.
“The only positive with Christian not playing tonight is we just ran outside zone all day,” Kittle said. “They switched to five down linemen, and they still couldn’t handle it. I love that type of football.”
What went wrong for New York Monday night?
After Brock Purdy‘s interceptions during training camp were a major topic of discussion, the third-year quarterback was efficient in running San Francisco’s offense and taking care of the football. Purdy finished 19-of-29 for 231 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions for an 89.9 passer rating.
Two of San Francisco’s top players on offense — receiver Brandon Aiyuk and left tackle Trent Williams — didn’t participate in training camp due to contract issues, but they were suited up Monday.
Williams arrived just six days before San Francisco’s opener after signing a lucrative contract extension. But the Oklahoma product showed little rust, playing 70 of 72 snaps on offense. According to Next Gen Stats, Williams allowed zero pressures on 33 pass-blocking snaps, his first game without allowing a pressure on at least 14 pass-blocking snaps since Week 3 of the 2022 season.
After signing his big contract just before the start of the regular season, Aiyuk was mostly absent. He finished with two catches for 28 yards on five targets, but also had two drops, including one in the end zone. Aiyuk played 43 of the possible 72 snaps on offense as he works himself back into game shape.
The 49ers also looked like they shored up one of their weak spots with the addition of defensive linemen Maliek Collins and Leonard Floyd inside, along with linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. San Francisco held the Jets to 68 rushing yards, an average of 3.6 yards per carry.
The Niners showed they do not have to be at their best — or even close to it — to get quality wins during the regular season.
“All we preached the entire week and a lot of the offseason was just focus on one game at a time,” Kittle said. “That’s all that we can focus on, because if you look down the line at the lofty goals and expectations, there’s distractions.”
There weren’t any on Monday for the 49ers, even after a tumultuous offseason and without their best player for the season opener.
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.
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